Girish Mahajan (Editor)

The Sin of Pride

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Released
  
13 March 1983

Length
  
38:53

Genre
  
Soul Motown

Studio
  
Playground Studios, Camden Town, London

Label
  
Ardeck-EMI (UK) Harvest (US) Rykodisc (US CD reissue)

Producer
  
Mike Hedges, The Undertones

The Sin of Pride is the fourth and final album to be released by the original line-up of The Undertones. The album, which was produced by Mike Hedges, was recorded between the autumn of 1982 and the spring of 1983. Unlike the three previous albums released by The Undertones, which primarily consisted of guitar-oriented music, The Sin of Pride drew much inspiration from both Soul music and Motown and has been described by Allmusic as "one of the great unsung albums of the early '80s." Lead singer Feargal Sharkey is also known to have opined The Sin of Pride as "the finest Undertones album."

Contents

Released on 13 March 1983, The Sin of Pride reached number 43 in the UK charts. Largely due to the commercial failure of The Sin of Pride, The Undertones disbanded just four months after the album's release. On the subject of the poor sales of this album, Feargal Sharkey would recollect in 1986: "People still wanted us to rewrite the first album, and we weren't prepared to do that."

Three singles were taken from The Sin of Pride: "Got To Have You Back", "Chain of Love" and "The Love Parade". (Two single versions of "The Love Parade" were released; one version commercially available upon the LP and an extended 12-inch single version.) However, none of the singles released reached the UK top 40.

Track listing

  • "Got To Have You Back" was a cover of the 1967 Isley Brothers single.
  • "Save Me" was a cover of a song by The Miracles (later Smokey Robinson and The Miracles).
  • The 12" version of "The Love Parade" was an extended version of the 7" single version.
  • Personnel

    The Undertones
  • Feargal Sharkey – lead vocals
  • John O'Neill – rhythm guitar
  • Damian O'Neill – lead guitar, keyboards and backing vocals
  • Michael Bradley – bass guitar, keyboards and backing vocals
  • Billy Doherty – drums
  • Additional musicians
  • Caroline Lavelle – cello
  • Dick Blewett – saxophone
  • Dave Price – trumpet
  • Anne Stephenson & Virginia Howes – violin
  • Sylvia & The Sapphires – backing vocals
  • The Rumour Brass – brass instruments upon "Conscious"
  • The Chanter Sisters – backing vocals upon "The Love Parade"
  • Production
  • Mike Hedges – engineering, mixing
  • Leo Peppas – engineering
  • Nigel Green – engineering
  • Andy Pierce – remastering (2009 Compact Disc re-release)
  • References

    The Sin of Pride Wikipedia